犀角雕葡萄藤蔓盃

This ingeniously carved cup belongs to a small group of finely carved cups with fruit decoration. Another example carved with fruiting vine around the sides from the Franklin Cow Collection bearing a Zi Zhen signature was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2011, lot 2716. Two examples in the Palace Museum Collection are illustrated in Bamboo, Wood and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Beijing, nos. 114 and 130; and an example in the Staatliches Museum fur Volkerskunde, Munich is illustrated by J. Chapman, The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, p. 172, no. 222.